The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-09-02
Good and Bad Temper.

MIR. Francis Gallon. in The Fortnghtly Re-
view, gives an analysis of statist cs on good
and bad temper The statistics embrace de-
scriptlons of the tempers of 1881 persons,
Good and bad tempers are again grouped by
Mr.. Cation into five main casses-mild, do
Gle, fretful, violent, masterful. The three
former predominant LII women, the two latter
in men. The number of persons, however, in
the two groups of good and bad temper, is
about'equal;; one set of data making it forty
| eight good to fifty-two bad, and another
| forty-seven to fifty-three. There is likewise
| little difference between the sexes; but what
there is. is in favor OF the gentler sex, there
being As per cent. of bad tempers amongst
them and So per cent. amongst men. Alto
gether 81 per cent. We're mild in temper, Is
per cent. docile, % per cent. fretful, II per
cent. violent and 5 per cent. masterful
1t is curious to note how well the number of
persons recorded as good bad or neutral in
temper comedies with what theoretical con-
siderations demand OF 1861 persons, 321
ars described as good, 342 as bad, and EOS as
neutral most of the last not being described
at alD !; that is. these Observers unconsciously
divide persons into four equal classes-good
tempered, bad tempered, not decidedly either
but with more of O tendency to good, and
similarly towards the bad. This shows that
the line of average temper was placed where
it belongs, with equal deviations in either di-
rection. Another mark of reliability is to be
found in the fact that near relatives are
spoken Of as bad tempered quite as unreserv-
edly as more distant ones.
Whether temper is hereditary is a question
not easily answered; but when asked of
couples i'll which both parents are good tenn
pered, or both parents bad tempered, the
answer is, emphatically in the affirmative
Thirty per cent. of the children of the former
are spoken of as good tempered, and only 10
per cent. as bad; while, with regard to the
children of the bad tempered, only 4 per
cent. are good tempered and % per cent. bad
Similarly, by method necessarily somewhat
arbitrary and not easily described, Mr.. Gal
ton concludes that in the ancestry Of good
tempered persons. three persons of good tenn
per will occur to two Of bad temper, and
vice versa in the ancestry Of bad tempered
person.. Apart from direct heredity, edu-
cation and circumstances evidently affect
temper. A large class OF such influences are
about as favorable to good as to bal temper,
and so tend to produce variety of tempers
Another class of influences, typically illus.
trated in the case of not unusually docile
woman becoming very docile as the wife offs
masterful husband, tends to divide persons
(and this applies particularly to the otfspring
into distinct groups; while the effect of a
ancestor may be working to con-
tinue one kind of temper through many
members of the family. Mr.. Cation finds
that, in fourteen cases of forty-nine, these
domestic and social influences are too weak
ba inf, in,
course of heredity, either by the p:epotent
temper of ono member or the general con-
currence of temper i'll several Finally, it
may be noted, that. though so important and
readily observed a trait, temper is not a
prime consideration in marriage, men of each
kind of temper about as frequently choosing
O wife of one temper as of another